<b>ANCIENT MAN</b> / Hodaka Yoshida1959<b>SOLD</b></em>
ARTIST: Hodaka Yoshida (1926-1995)
TITLE: Ancient Man
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1959
DIMENSIONS: 24 x 8 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Faint wrinkling and light soiling at margins; otherwise, in fine shape
SOLD
ARTIST: Hodaka Yoshida (1926-1995)
TITLE: Ancient Man
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1959
DIMENSIONS: 24 x 8 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Faint wrinkling and light soiling at margins; otherwise, in fine shape
SOLD
ARTIST: Hodaka Yoshida (1926-1995)
TITLE: Ancient Man
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1959
DIMENSIONS: 24 x 8 1/2 inches
CONDITION: Faint wrinkling and light soiling at margins; otherwise, in fine shape
SOLD
Details
Hodaka Yoshida was the youngest son of Hiroshi and Fujio Yoshida. Like his older brother Toshi, Hodaka displayed an early interest in art and woodblock prints but was encouraged to pursue science and higher education. After the war, Toshi became heir to the Yoshida Studio and Hodaka defied his father’s wishes—abandoning science for art, abstraction in particular, a style his father disdained. In 1953, he married Chizuko, a fellow woodblock print artist, and traveled the world together producing and exhibiting artwork influenced by their travels and the international artistic trends of the day. Hodaka’s body of work is diverse encompassing Shin Hanga–like designs at the onset of his career, which later progressed to encompassed fully abstract designs displaying Buddhist and primitive folkloric qualities. Hodaka also experimented with a pop surrealist style that incorporated elements of photography, advertising, and eroticism.
“Ancient Man” was produced during Hodaka’s trip to Mexico and Latin America. The work is in the scroll-like form appearing similar to ancient Mayan iconography. The colors and forms within the composition itself are the artist’s own invention and their arrangement is masterful, invoking a machine-like form in motion.
“Ancient Man” is a design that is mysterious, bold, and advances a new pictorial language in contemporary Japanese prints.
Connoisseur's Note
Hodaka Yoshida’s woodblock prints from this period are quite scarce, as he did not produce work in large quantities. Making this work even more desirable, this impression was never framed or displayed for extended periods of time ensuring the colors are in a pristine state of preservation, appearing as vivid today as they were the day the work was produced.